Fish in Scallion and Ginger Sauce

In SBD Recipes, fish like orange roughy, cod, sole, or flounder can be use for this recipe but I used tilapia fillet. I cooked it a little bit longer, I thought it will be dry, it's not just because I used fresh fish. I omitted dry sherry and replaced lime juice.

1/3 cup dry sherry or vermouth

3 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce

2 teaspoon sesame oil

1/4 cup finely chopped green onion

1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger

1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic

2 fish fillet

Preheat the oven to 180°C (400°F). Mix the sherry or vermouth (if using) or lime, soysauce, sesame oil, onion, ginger, and garlic in a small bowl. Place the fresh fillets in an ovenproof dish. Drizzle the marinate over the fish and bake for 12 minutes or until the fish flakes easily.

Oatmeal and Tofu Pancake

A very healthy breakfast adapted from SBD Recipes, I used oatmeal tofu (a box of silk tofu with oatmeal added) that can easily find in the supermarkets. If tofu is not available, from original recipe low-fat cottage cheese in another choice.

1/2 cup old-fashioned oatmeal

1 box silken tofu
or 1/4 cup low-fat cottage cheese

4 egg whites

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

In a blender, process place the oatmeal, tofu, egg whites, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and nutmeg  until smooth. In a pan, add a drop of oil (or cooking spray). Add the batter and cook over medium heat until sides are slightly browned.

Top with low sugar cranberry syrup ( sorry for the color :), but it's yum!
(You can top the pancake with a low-sugar syrup of your choice.)

Tuesdays at the Table

Tuesday Tastes Party

Simply Hummus

For the first time in Traditional Market, I found fresh chickpeas and I immediately bought a kilo. Since I've seen SBD Recipes use a lot of chickpeas. The first recipe I adapted from is Hummus. Since, it's fresh I boiled them first for about 5 minutes.

1 cup chickpeas

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1/4 cup tahini (sesame paste)

1/4 cup chopped onion

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon ground cumin

salt and pepper to taste

chopped fresh parsley (optional)

Drain the chickpeas, reserving 1/4 cup of the liquid. Combine chickpeas, lime juice, tahini, onion, garlic, oil, cumin, pepper, and salt in a blender. Puree until smooth, adding the chickpeas liquid if needed to thin the puree. Refrigerate to chill at least 3 hours before serving to blend the flavors. Garnish with parsley (optional).

Since I'm the only one eating it, there's more left-over! I made it into pasta sauce, just added parmesan cheese, and roasted garlic.Place on top of any kinds of noodles... garnish it with fresh basil... A meal!

So creamy and yummy!

Another Meatless Monday here...

Marinated London Broil

I don't know which part of beef I used because I sliced it when I bought it that supposed to be used in other recipes. The ingredients I used in marinating is taken from SBD Recipes. I like my steak well-done unlike in the recipe which is medium-rare. I used oven toaster, it's a little bit longer to cook, grill pan can also use for those in a hurry. All the herbs should be fresh, but I only used dried.

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoon dry red wine

1 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon dried parsley

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1 bay leaf

dash of ground black pepper

2 pieces steak

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the oil, wine, garlic, parsley, oregano, bay leaf, and pepper. Place the steak in a deep bowl and pour on the marinade. Turn once to coat in a sides, cover, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

When ready to serve, preheat the broiler. Discard the marinade. Broil the meat about 5 minutes on each side or until cook. Cut the meat into thin or bite size. Serve warm or cold.

Weekend Food Tour: Starcruise Food Presentation

Today, Hubby and I are celebrating our 11th Year Wedding Anniversary! Unfortunately, we're not together to celebrate. We'll have our post-celebration on August and I'm looking forward to those dates because our booking is already confirmed, and our next cruise will be Starcruise Libra - departing from Taiwan to Naha, Japan for 4 days and 3 nights.

Last year, we celebrated our 10th year wedding anniversary on a cruise, Starcuise Virgo from Singapore to Penang, Malaysia and Puket, Thailand then back to Singapore. It was fun and exciting, and non-stop eating!

Here are some of the food we had 4 days in Starcruise Virgo Fine Dining:

(They also have Buffet, mostly Chinese and Indian Food).

Breakfast

Salad

Steamed Fish with Cream Sauce

Fish and Chips

Shrimp on Java Rice

Fried Chicken

Meatloaf

Lamb

Some sweets

Strawberry Chocolate Cake

Cruise Made Ice Cream

**********

For my recipe today, I'll be sharing with you the Simplest Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries (as seen in one of assorted sweets)taken from South Beach Diet Recipes.

The ingredients are 2 squares (1 ounce each) semi-sweet of bittersweet chocolate (chopped), 1/2 tablespoon whipping cream, dash of almond extract, and some strawberries. Combine the chocolate, whipping cream, and almond extract in a bowl. Place the bowl on top of hot water, stirring constantly until the chocolates melt, then cool slightly. Dip each strawberry into the melter chocolates, allowing the excess to drip off. Place on a wax paper. Refrigerate to chill and/or until the chocolate is set.

Thank you Lord for our (FedLan) 11th Year Wedding Anniversary

and praying YOU'll continue to shower us with your Love.

Amen

(June 26, 2010)

**********

Happy Weekend!

Luscious Saturday

Yummy Sunday

Chilled Vegetable in Vietnamese Roll

Nice to eat meatless once in while, that's why I decided to make fresh chilled vegetable in Vietnamese Roll, perfect food for summer. It's very light and nutritious, and I added scrambled eggs so I won't feel like I'm eating grass (kidding) ;). This one has no exact recipe.

carrot, stripped

cucumber, stripped

cabbage, chopped

Vietnamese roll sheet (or any spring roll)

2 eggs, scrambled

salt and pepper to taste

extra-virgin olive oil

mayonnaise (or any dressing)

In a pan, saute the carrot, cucumber and cabbage, season with salt and pepper. Cook just for few minutes ( do not overcooked). Let it cool. Steep the Vietnamese roll in a warm water for at least ten seconds. Place vegetable mix and egg on one side spring roll. Fold one side, then fold left and right and roll forward to the mixture. Chill for few minutes before serving. Serve with dressing of your choice.

Note: You can also deep-fry spring rolls.

Almost weekend, Have one friends!

Foodie Friday

Chicken en Papillote

I already collected lots Chicken Recipe from South Beach Diet Book. Another recipe this time is Chicken en Papillote or Baked Chicken wrapped in foil. I only omitted zucchini, as usual I'm not fun of it, but don't worry I'll try to like it later :). Instead I added cucumber. I baked this for 30 minutes, I like it a little bit chewy but not too dry. I let it cool, then ate it with Gazpacho.

2 boneless chicken breast
pinch salt and pepper
1 scallion, chopped
1 small zucchini, sliced (omitted)
1 medium carrot, sliced stripped
1/2 teaspoon orange zest

Preheat oven (toaster) to 220°C, place the chicken in a foil, sprinkle with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, combine scallions, carrot, cucumber or zucchini (if using), and orange zest. Spoon the mixture over the chicken breast. Fold the foil over the chicken and crimp edges together tightly. Bake for 20 minutes or until cook.

Cold Vegetable Soup (Gazpacho)

Summer time! It would be nice if the soup like Gazpacho is cold. Adapted  from the South Beach Diet Recipe, my first time to make and taste my way of making gazpacho. I have less ingredients, maybe it would taste better if I completed the ingredients being asked. I didn't add tomato or vegetable juice, i just added more ripe tomatoes, and no parsley, vinegar (I used lime), and worcestershire sauce. In the recipe, the procedure is just mix everything and refrigerate. I cook everything first, I don't think I can drink it raw. Then I blended it, before I refrigerate.

2 cups finely chopped fresh tomatoes

1/2 cup finely chopped celery

1/2 cup finely chopped cucumber

1/2 cup finely chopped green bell pepper

1/2 cup finely chopped green onion

3 tablespoon fresh lime juice

2 tablespoon extra-vrigin olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

In a pot, combine all the ingredients and just let it boil. Place in a blender, blended it until smooth. Let it cool, cover and refrigerate overnight. Serve cold.

Cheesy Frittata

Another breakfast treat from South Beach Diet Recipe, but I omitted some ingredients like zuchini, plum tomatoes, and cottage cheese. Instead of broiling it, I just baked it in an oven toaster and mix mozarella cheese together with milk and eggs in a blender. Still, very cheesy!

1/2 cup slice onion

1/2 sliced bell pepper

1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil

2 eggs

1/4 cup fresh milk

30g mozarella cheese

pepper powder

In a pan, saute onion and bell pepper over medium-low heat until slighly brown. Add basil pepper, remove from the heat. In a blender, combine eggs, cheese, and milk and blended until smooth. Pour the mixture over the vegetables. Cover and cook on the medium-low heat until the bottom is set and the top is still slightly wet. Transfer the skillet to the broiler (if using), or oven toaster and bake until the top is set.

Roasted Eggplant and Bell Peppers

A very simple side dish or snack taken from South Beach Diet Recipe, but I added sesame dressing and I omitted the onion.

1 eggplant, peeled, halved, and sliced
1/2 red bell pepper, cut into thick strip
1/2 yellow bell pepper, cut into thick strip
1/2 green bell pepper, cut into thick strip
1 small onion, sliced (omitted)
2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
some fresh basil (optional)

Preheat the oven (toaster) to 220°C . Place the eggplant, peppers, and onion (optional) in a baking dish. Drizzle with the oil. Bake in for about 20 minutes or more, basting regularly.

Arrange the vegetables on a serving dish and garnish with fresh basil and pour some dressing that you like.

Weekend Food Tour: Some Filipino Food

When I'm taking Graduate School in National Taiwan Normal University (International Human Resources and Development). In our Cross-Cultural Communication Course, we need to present food from our country of origin. I presented Lechon (Roasted Pig in Charcoal) and Adobo (Pork or Chicken Stewed in Soy Sauce and Vinegar). Two of my classmates from Belize presented of course Rice and Beans + Potato Salad, and the same version of Adobo. From there, we all knew it has something to do with Spain. The rest are history!

Anyways, here one way of cooking Adobo from Christie Lee's Famous Filipino Food Cookbook, Pagkaing Pinoy. Adobo may also be cooked using pork or combination of chicken and port.

1 kilo chicken, cut into serving pieces ( I used wings)

5 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and quartered (I omitted)

2 cups of water

1 head of garlic, minced

1 bay leaf

peppercorns (I used ordinary ground pepper)

3 tablespoon soysauce (I used 5 tablespoon dark soysauce)

1 1/2 teaspoon vinegar

1 chicken cube (sorry I don't use cube)

salt to taste (optional)

In a saucepan, combine chicken, garlic, bay leaf, peppercorns, and soysauce. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then cover. Reduce heat. Cook until chicken is tendr. When meat is almost done, add potatoes.  Pour in vinegar. Simmer for a few mintues, stirring occassionally. Don't overcooked the potatoes.

My husband do it different way, he used to marinate the chicken or pork overnight with all the seasonings, added some oil so when it'll be cooked like teriyaki style.

*****

A year ago my husband and I attended my sis-in-law's wedding (June 20), and also had the chance to eat some of our favorite food in span of short vacation. I compiled it into a video clip, enjoy watching!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Yummy Sunday!

Chicken-Pistachio Salad

Just for curiosity, I tried and did the exact recipe of Chicken-Pistachio Salad from South Beach Diet specially the dressing, I like it! The dressing is easy to do, just mix all the ingredients needed and blend it, that's it. But the chicken mixture, it took me a long time to prepare. First, I don't have ground pistachio nuts, so I have to shell manually, then blended it in a blender to become powder. Nevertheless, it's worth. It's good!

For the salad

1/2 cup shelled pistachio nuts, finely ground

1/2 + 1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon  + 1 pinch freshly ground black pepper

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 cup diced sweet white onion

1 head romaine lettuce

For the dressing

1 teaspoon grated sweet onion

1 large ripe avocado, pitted and peeled

3 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon water

To make the salad

Preheat the oven (oven toaster) to 220°C. In a plate, mix the nuts, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Press the chicken into the nuts. In a pan, heat 1 tablespoon of oil and cook the coated chicken breast, 2 minutes per side. Place the chicken breasts in the a baking dish and bake for 15 minutes or until cook.

In a pan, heat the remaining tablespoon of oil. Add onion, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and a pinch of pepper. Cook until the onion is browned.

To make the dressing

Puree onion, avocado, oil, lime juice, and water in a blender.

 

Place bite size lettuce in a plate. Slice the chicken breasts and arrange on top of the lettuce. Serve with the dressing.

*****

Happy Saturday!

Western Egg White Omelet

Taken from South Beach Diet Recipes, I was in a hurry to make breakfast that day. I've been eating breakfast for the last two weeks, and I don't get easily hungry not until lunch time. That's a good news! (I used to be big eater at night.) For the past two weeks, I'm trying to change my bio-clock, starting from eating healthy food. I lost weight although it's fluctuating since I really didn't follow the suggestions and I haven't started doing exercise.

This is just an ordinary omelet and saving it here to complete my recipe collection from South Beach Diet. The egg in original recipe is 1/2 cup egg substitute. There's now way I can find egg substitute here in Taiwan, instead I used ordinary egg, beaten lightly.

1 tablespoon green pepper, chopped

1 tablespoon red pepper, chopped

1 tablespoon scallion, chopped

1 egg, beaten lightly

3 tablespoon shredded reduced-fat cheese (I used mozzarella cheese)

extra-virgin olive oil for sauteing

In a pan, heat oil, saute the peppers and the scallions until they are tender-crisp. Set aside.

In the same pan, add a little oil and pour the egg. When partially set, place the vegetables and cheese over half of the egg and fold the omelet in half over the filling. Continue cooking until cook through. Serve immediately.

Salmon Kabobs

I usually buy fish and meat products either in Costco or Wellcome(that's really how it spelled) , because they are individually wrapped and only good for one or two servings. But today, I bought this in a traditional market (wet market), the cut is big and too fat. I decided to make it into kabobs that I adapted from South Beach Diet Recipes. I have left over peppers from other dish I made. Except, I don't have any onions and tomatoes available (I used them all in my Tomato and Onion Soup).

2 tablespoon extra-virgin oil

2 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 salmon (or any fish), cut into big cube (bite size)

1/2 red, green, and yellow bell pepper, cut into big cube

tomatoes and onion (optional)

Pre-heat the broiler, I used oven-toaster. In  a bowl, combine the oil, juice, and mustard. Stir to blend. Place the fish to the marinade. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 10 minutes, tuning the  fish to coat evenly and chill for another 5 minutes. Thread the fish onto skewers (I used sticks), alternating fish cubes with colored peppers. Brush the kabobs lightly with the marinade.

Place the skewer on a broiler pan and broil for 5 minutes. Turn the kabobs and brush again with the rest of the marinade. Broil for another 5 minutes longer or until the fish is no longer translucent and the vegetables are tender-crisp. Serve immediately.

Shrimp Salad with Herb-Dill Dressing

After a week of eating fish and chicken, finally I found a shrimp recipe adapted from South Beach Diet. I made a twist about this recipe, instead of using dry white wine, I just used lime juice. For red-pepper flakes, I used paprika and omitted the mustard seed. Since there's no fresh dill for the dressing, dried dill was fine. Luckily, the shrimp I bought was already peeled and deveined. This is good specially for summer!

For the shrimp:

500g small shrimp, peeled and  deveined

1 teaspoon mustard seeds (dijon mustard)

1/4 teaspoon red-pepper flakes (dash of paprika)

1 bay leaf

1 lime juice

In a pan, combine the lime, bay leaves, dijon mustard, and paprika. Add 1/2 cup water, bring to a boil. Add shrimp, and cook until the shrimp turned cook. Drain and cool. Discard the bay leaf.

For Herb-Dill Dressing:

2 tablespoon extra-vrigin olive oil

2 tablespoon lime juice

1 tablespoon water

1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil

1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill (1 teaspoon dried dill)

1 clove garlic, minced

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

1/4 medium onion, chopped

In a screw-top jar, mix the olive oil, lime juice, water, basil, dill, garlic, mustard, and onion. Shake well.

Place the shrimp in a bowl, add the dressing and toss well. Cover, refrigerate until well-chilled.

Serve the shrimp mixture on chopped romaine lettuce leaves and surround with tomato. Garnish with dill sprigs (optional).

submitted to:

Summer Salad Theme